TOY STORY 4 REVIEW
by
URIZEN
Oh man, Disney is really hitting hard with the nostalgia
this year. We had Aladdin, Lion King coming up and now we have Toy Story 4. I
was both thrilled and upset when this was announced a while back. On one hand,
it is Toy Story! It has been such a great thing and a part of my life since I
was a child. On the other hand though, things wrapped up so nicely in the third
movie, this movie just seemed so unnecessary. Ultimately though, I decided I
had to go see it. I’m going to pretend that with Woody being sad and with Andy
now being gone, Charles Lee Ray finally got his wish, but Andy hid the toys
with Bonnie in Toy Story 3 to keep them safe. I wanted to go to see Child’s
Play and am trying to find time and money to do so.
So anyways, Toy
Story 4! This story takes place 2 years after the end of Toy Story 3. Bonnie is
getting ready to start Kindergarten and Woody is feeling rejected by her. All
of the other toys have been picked to be played with multiple times while he
gets left alone in the closet. Due to his relationship with Andy though, Woody
feels it is his job to bring happiness to Bonnie and help her, the feeling only
being increased when he sees her crying about having to go to Kindergarten
orientation without a toy. Sneaking into Bonnie’s backpack, Woody travels with
her to school, sneaking around to help her with a project. This leads to Bonnie
creating the newest member of the family, Forky. Forky is a plastic spork with
pipe cleaner arms, googly eyes, and feet made out of a broken popsicle stick. Bonnie's
happiness grows tremendously at Forky. Forky, though, questions his existence.
He doesn’t understand why he is alive, and sees himself as trash. It is
actually really funny as he keeps being almost drawn to trash cans, trying to
run to them every time he sees one, with Woody having to stay in the one next
to Bonnie’s bed, just to keep throwing him out of it.
Woody from this
point on sees himself as Forky's caretaker. Forky makes Bonnie so happy,
therefore he will do everything in his power to make sure Forky learns to be
Bonnie’s toy, to bring her the happiness that Woody once brought to Andy.
Meanwhile, Bonnie’s family decides to go on a road trip before Bonnie starts
school. Along the way, Forky ends up jumping out the window of the RV as he
still just sees himself as trash and not a toy. Woody meanwhile goes after him.
While trying to get him and get them back to Bonnie, they meet a slew of toys,
including reuniting with Bo Peep who has been living on her own as a lost toy
for years.
There is no other
way to say it, the movie is great. I was really worried about this movie. Having
three movies that were already very successful was an accomplishment enough,
especially for Disney, but a fourth? I didn’t see any way it could happen, but
I was certainly wrong. I have said it before, but I truly feel this is the final
film in the series at last, and I am glad they ended this the way they did. That’s
not to say this is a perfect movie though. It has small issues. Given there are
far less of those, I will talk about them first.
One of the first
things was, it didn’t have much focus on the other toys. We got introduced to a
bunch of new ones, such as Keanu Reeves' Duke Caboom, Key and Peele's Ducky and
Bunny, and Christina Hendricks’ Gabby Gabby, but we hardly got anytime with any
of the older toys. Woody, Forky and Bo were the main cast in this for sure.
Even Buzz didn’t get as much, though he was hilarious in there. Tim Allen
killed it, as usual, in that role. I just think if this is the last one, it
would have been good to spend a bit more time with the others as well. Mr.
Potato Head is the exception with this. In 2017, comedian and voice of Mr.
Potato Head, Don Rickles, passed away. For the movie, Mr. Potato Head is voiced
using archived audio from the previous movies. He only has a few lines there,
but I appreciate how it was done in that case.
As far as anything
else goes, Woody’s head maybe seemed a little bigger which was weird. Really I
think that was it. I was sure for a while that I would hate Forky honestly.
From the moment I saw the first image of him, I had a bad feeling. Glad to see
I was proven wrong on that. He was surprisingly funny and entertaining. I was
also a little worried on how Bo was being handled with this. I was happy to see her as this strong, independent
character, but was worried where they would go with it. Thankfully the fundamentals
of her character are still there, and the change Bo had to go through makes
perfect sense. She was amazing in this
and I was thrilled with the more major role she had.
We once again have
Randy Newman coming back to do the music which is great. The soundtrack was wonderful
throughout the movie. Hearing “You've Got A Friend in Me" playing at the
beginning brought a smile to my face as the nostalgia rushed over me. On that,
having the original cast back is always good and while there wasn’t much of
them, they really did good in the roles again. Hearing Tom Hanks and Tim Allen
together again just makes me happy. All of the others did well also for the new
toys. Keanu Reeves and Key and Peele were all hilarious and got plenty of
laughs in their roles. And Christina Hendricks did wonderful as Gabby Gabby.
On the subject of
that, Gabby Gabby was a great character. She is a talking doll that resides in
an antique shop Woody stumbles into. Gabby wants a new voice box as hers is
broken. Woody naturally has the exact same type of voice box she has, so Gabby
has her eyes set on it. Aided by her servants, a small group of dummy puppets,
she sets out to obtain Woody’s voice box and make it her own. There is a lot
more to her character and she quickly became one of my favorites. Her dummies
though are downright terrifying and made me think I may be was watching a
horror movie.
One of the small
things I loved and always really have, is the detail that goes into how these
toys move. The proportion and composition of the dummies causes their running
to be different than Forky who has limited movement due to being a spork with
popsicle sticks glued to it. It is something I have always liked, but could
really shine here.
On that subject, I
appreciate that how over time, the animation has improved so much in these
movies, but it has still always felt like Toy Story. The feel has always been
there and characters have never drastically changed. We did get a bit of change
with Bo in this as she became a lost toy. Most of that was an outfit change
though.
I still have a question
though…. When do these toys become sentient? Forky didn't become living until
he got his eyes it seemed, and it wasn't immediate. Even after that, he knew he
came from the trash. He knew he was a
spork. He knew his purpose as a spork and that it had been fulfilled. Was he
always conscious and only became able to communicate when he had eyes? How does
this work??? Also Woody jumps in a toy truck, but it isn't living, it's just a
toy. Are the eyes what bring it to life?
Is it the mouth? Can a slice of pizza
become a living creature if it gets eyes? These are all questions I need to
know.
At the end of the
day, is Toy Story 4 a perfect movie? No, it has its minor flaws as all of the
other movies had. Also like those, it was a really great film. While probably
not good for people that are completely new to the series, for everyone who has
been with it for this many years, it’s just as good as the others. After so
many years, just as I thought after watching 3, it is sad to see it end, and
while this movie was an emotional ride, the only times I stopped smiling and
laughing were when I got that emotional gut punch from a few of these scenes. If
you haven't seen it yet, get out there and watch it. That's your mission space
ranger. Watch it, show your kids and form these memories that will last
forever. Now let's go, to infinity and beyond!
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